I was surprised to see them on the list of allowed rodents in my state(since nutria and capybaras are banned) but there they were when checking on a different critter for a friend.

They look like a cross between cayparas and beavers, with nutria tails but they can climb trees! I think I've seen them for sale before but it was many many years ago. They would probably be a lot of trouble as house pets.

There's a few different species of hutia, some are communal and some aren't some look like big guinea pigs and I don't like the looks of them as much.

Has anyone ever seen any for sale. I'd be curious about their price range. I'll probably stick to a mara or possibly a paca but these are adorable but I believe are much harder to come by, unless someone could get some babies imported.

and it says a permit is needed to hunt them but that means it would be possible to get a permit so maybe also possible to get an export permit to the US. So there's hope. Now someone with the means needs to do it.